REGINA – Saskatchewan farmers are entitled to receive their one-third share of a more than $500-million GRIP surplus directly, not through premium deferral, according to the province’s official opposition party.
Last week, NDP agriculture minister Darrel Cunningham said farmers may receive a portion of the approximately $180 million owed to them through deferred premiums for 1994-95. The remainder could come in a payment when the program is wound down next year.
But Progressive Conservative critic Grant Devine said premium deferral is unacceptable. He asked how farmers who have opted out of the program will get their money back, and he wondered why the province is sending the money to Ottawa.
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“We always thought that when farmers lined up in a program and participated, that they would be able to receive the money and not see it stay in provincial coffers or in the federal government’s coffers.”
Under the GRIP agreement, surpluses are to be paid back to farmers, the provincial government and Ottawa, based on their contributions.
Devine also questioned the lack of a replacement for GRIP. He said Manitoba and Alberta farmers have enjoyed the benefits of GRIP and will continue to enjoy the “son of GRIP” while Saskatchewan farm families are “out $20,000 to $25,000 a year.”
The Tories released figures showing that in the 1993 crop year, Alberta’s 23,000 farmers enroled in GRIP received $237 million, or about $10,300 each. In Manitoba, 12,500 farmers received $260 million, or about $20,800 each.
Meanwhile, 43,000 Saskatchewan farmers enroled in GRIP received an average of $2,465 out of a total payout of $106 million.
